Test Socket Contact Terminal With Offset Elastic Arms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing contact terminals for test sockets have complex structures that are difficult to manufacture and exhibit unstable electrical connections due to rough contacting surfaces between upper and lower contact pins.
Innovation Solution
A contact terminal design featuring a lower contact pin with offset elastic arms and a spring device that provides a repellent force, ensuring reliable contact through smooth clamping surfaces and hooks that prevent separation during movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the upper and lower contact pins are designed with complex structures including base portions, elastic arms, hooks, and openings, then the contact terminal can be assembled together, but the manufacturing complexity increases and the structure becomes difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The contact pin is divided into distinct functional segments: a body portion, a pair of elastic arms extending from it, and hooks at the ends of the elastic arms. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured and assembled independently, simplifying the overall manufacturing process while maintaining the necessary structural complexity for functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The body portion and the elastic arms are integrated into a single contact pin structure, eliminating the need for separate assembly of these components. This merging reduces the number of parts and simplifies manufacturing while preserving the elastic engagement mechanism between upper and lower contact pins.
2Reliability
If the contact pins use inclined guiding surfaces and opening surfaces for contacting, then the hooks can engage with openings, but the contacting surfaces become rough and electrical connection stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The elastic arms are designed with specific local properties: they extend downwardly from the body portion and terminate in hooks with inclined guiding surfaces. The body portion itself has a different geometry with a broader base. This local differentiation allows the hooks to provide stable engagement while the body portions maintain smooth contacting surfaces for reliable electrical connection.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design achieves reliable and stable electrical connections between upper and lower contact pins, simplifying manufacturing and enhancing contact durability by using smooth metallic surfaces for clamping and guiding the contact pins.
Implementation Method 1
a spring arranged between the upper and the lower contact pins and providing a repellent force for two contact pins to move away from each other along a vertical direction
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical connector contact comprises an upper and lower contact pins and a spring device disposed between the upper and lower contact pins. The upper contact pin includes a main portion, two pair of stopping portions respectively projecting from two sides of the main portion, and two guiding slots each formed between two stopping portions located at a same side of the main portion. The lower contact pin has a pair of elastic arms directly made from lacerating and bending a metallic plate and received in the guiding slots, a pair of clamping portions clamping the main portion, and two hooks abutting against the stopping portions to prevent the upper and lower contact pins separating from each other.